European stocks slumped at the start of trading this morning after the Tokyo market closed down more than 10 per cent amid Japan's nuclear crisis.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index dropped 1.81 percent to 5,670.78 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 dived 2.87 per cent to 6,668.99 points and in Paris, the CAC 40 shed 2.17 per cent to 3,793.95.

Tokyo's Nikkei closed down 10.55 per cent to 8,605.15 points today as panicking investors dumped stocks after the Japanese government said levels of radiation leaking from a stricken nuclear plant posed a threat to health.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.